Pray for Peace
by JeDormisToutLeTemps
Summary: Tony's at a press conference when he hears. Steve is half dead. (Not Stony, strong language ahead, first chapter updated 10/19/2015.)
1. Chapter 1

**Who: Tony, Natasha, Steve, Sam**

**What: Tony's at a press conference when he hears. Steve is half dead. _Not_ Stony!**

**When: After CA:TWS, so spoilers for that, and one or two for IM3.**

**Why: Plot bunny, that's why.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned, I would not have written this drabble.**

X

_"For it is the soldier who must suffer and bare the deepest wounds and scars of war..."_

_\- Douglas MacArthur_

X

Tony's at a press conference when he hears. Well, when he's told.

His phone rings - _Natashalie_, it says, and okay, he's bitter, whatever - and he answers it 'cuz, _duh_, she could kill him from wherever the fuck she was standing, despite how far away she is and, to put it simply, he could not.

He smiles a fake smile at the people looking up at him with wide eyes and sultry smiles and glares, ignores the cameras and the microphones in his face. "Hello?" He sounds casual, but he's anything but. Natasha doesn't call him for just anything, except emergencies, and she probably knows he's busy, so...

"Have you heard?" She's blunt, getting right to the point. There's a lot of noise in the background, which is disconcerting, because the few times she's ever talked to him over a phone call, her end is silent other than her own voice and the occasional background buzzing. "About -" she pauses and effectively confuses him "- Steve?"

She's never called Steve by his first name, or any of the other Avengers by their names except for Clint and himself, so he's on red alert at once. "No, I haven't. Was there something I should have been told? About Capsicle?" _What happened? Where are you, actually? Is Spangles okay?_, is what he wants to ask. Steve had expressed not wanting to be known to the world - Tony'd called him Hannah Montana for a solid week. Point was, Tony had cameras on his face, recording and projecting this conversation to the world, so he's not exactly about to go spouting any sensitive information. He's an asshole, but not that big of one.

"HYDRA happened," she says, succinctly. "I'm in D.C. And, as for Steve..." she trails off. Tony blanches, but then tries valiantly to school his features - he's gotten pretty good at it, so he should be fine. Then, Natasha shouts "there he is!" at someone she's with, probably, and all kinds of worst-case-scenarios come to mind.

Tony still doesn't know what happened to Steve.

His phone leaves his ear within seconds of her shout, and so, he searches _D.C._ on Google - yes, the great Tony Stark knows how to use Google, what a surprise - and a whole shitstorm comes up on his phone.

The headlines say:

_Devastation in D.C. - Captain America Supposedly in the Middle of it!_

_Where Were the Avengers? _

_Helicarriers Down in the Potomac!_

_Heroes With Tragic Histories - Read More!_

_Thousands of SHIELD Files, Free!_

Tony rips the phone up to his ear and flat out growls, "where the _fuc__k_ is Rogers?" Steve probably won't care - well, Steve is more than likely dead, killed by HYDRA _again_, so the chances of that actually happening skyrocketed. But, if he isn't, Steve'll be pissed about Tony exposing his secret identity, even though it's probably already common knowledge, and his cussing on live television. Whatever. Tony's worried, cut him some slack. He doesn't feel like this about other people all that often, so he has a very little clue about how to react.

Natasha sighs. "I'm currently holding his stomach in place at the edge of the Potomac, Tony." She sounds weary. Tony doesn't care. He's dead serious right now. Pun _so_ not intended.

"And what happened to SHIELD?" His voice is sharp, but he doesn't care. He needs to know what's happening.

"There was never an actual SHIELD, Tony. It was HYDRA the whole time, for, like, seventy years." He gasps, well, no. It's not a gasp, so, he _sharply intakes a breath_ and holds it. He expects her next words to be for him, but they're not. "_Sam_! Shit - he's not - _Sam_!"

Tony might be hyperventilating. He was pretty fucking sure he was, in fact. Steve isn't _what_? Breathing? Bleeding, because he'd run out of blood? Listening to what she was telling him to do?

"What about Barton?" Clint probably won't care either - hopefully. Tony doesn't know whether to panic or get pissed - he doesn't have the suits to fall back on anymore, so he is practically fucked sideways. "Widow? Natasha?" She'll definitely care. Oh well.

"I don't know!" She growls and snaps at him. She could be mistaken for angry, but Tony knows, deep in his gut, that Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, is scared out of her mind. "Sam, call the fucking - fucking police, or _something_!" She sounds desperate. Tony's own stomach twists painfully. "Goddamnit, Rogers, c'mon."

Who knows what his face looks like - what he's saying without words and instead with facial reactions. Who knows what kind of information he's giving the vultures in front of him.

Frankly, Tony doesn't give a shit.

"Is he dead? Is he even _breathing_?" Tony feels like he's having a nightmare - but he'd never dreamt of Steve before or after his epiphany. "Natasha! Damn it, woman, _answer me_!"

"He's not breathing, Tony! Al_right_? Christ, he's having the worst - _second_ worst week of his life."

"Wha - why?" He's acting completely demanding, but really, shit was hitting the fan with every turn of the blades, so whatever. His anxiety is so far up the wall, the wall is now a skyscraper. A skyscraper made entirely of anxiety.

"Can we not talk about this right now? Steve, Steve, it's okay, he's... he's not here, you're safe, Steve." Her voice changes from her usual biting tone to a motherly one in about two seconds flat.

"Why wouldn't he be fucking _safe_? He's Captain America - what the _hell_, Nat?"

"Look, I'm having him get taken to a hospital, and he won't be leaving for a while, alright? When you come to see him," and didn't she know him _so well_, "don't make fun of him. The past kind of... well, it knocked him on his ass. And, Tony, if I find out that you upset him, Pepper will leave you for lack of... _things_." And then, she hangs up on him.

It doesn't even dawn on him that Natasha just threatened him, because if Rogers is in a place where Tony's little, sarcastic remarks can actually go to his head, Steve's probably half dead. The guy is like a thing that has holes for a person's head and shackled wrists. He gets hit with stuff all the time, but he's still standing.

He has to go - right now, okay, right the fuck now.

There are shouts - people want to know why he looks like he's actually emoting, probably (_"Mr. Stark! Why are you so pale!" "Mr. Stark! Captain America's name is Steve Rogers? Like the original?"_) - but he ignores them. "This is officially over, go home or go anywhere, I don't care. Just..., leave." And then, he's in his car, speeding towards Washington D.C. because _fuck it_, that's why. He has a co-worker to check on.

Steve is in an actual hospital.

Steve is (probably, likely) half dead.

Steve is being beaten down by the past.

Steve is... a lot more important to Tony than he'd originally thought. (He has a friend to check on?)

Tony goes even faster.


	2. AN

Hey peeps!

So, I just edited the first chap, and I have some stuff to say.

\- Check it out!

\- If you want the unedited version back up, I could do that.

\- Also, since a lot of you guys want a second part, send in what you want in it. I'll write whichever inspires me the most, and try to incorporate as many ideas as possible.

At this point, my ideas are "Tony doesn't like hospitals", "look at that giant bruise holy wow", "hi nice to meet you, Sam", and "Tony, look at this horrible thing they're saying in the media about you!"

Yeah, obviously, not enough ideas for a whole plot. So, like I said: send 'em in!


End file.
